Coal bunkers

If Im not putting this in the right place, Im sorry. I just went Engine Stuff + Coal Bunker = Logic? Also, I looked up coal bunker on the search and nothing like this question came up.

Anyway, how the heck did the coal bunkers work? Was it just a giant storage room, full of coal, and whenever the stokers need coal they would get coal out of a little hole? Or was that "little hole" a dispenser with a button. What was it? How would they get the coal? What if the coal bunker ran out of coal?

and whenever the stokers need coal they would get coal out of a little hole? Or was that "little hole" a dispenser with a button. What was it? How would they get the coal? What if the coal bunker ran out of coal?

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Though the bunker doors. The Trimmers would take them out of the bunker, breaking the large lumps put them in a barrow and bring them to the funcases. There was always enough coal in the bunker. (If for some reason they run out of coal they would call other ships for help.)

Ok, so is this how it works? The trimmers get the coal out of the coal bunker door, chop it up into manageable pieces, and put it in a wheel barrow and bring it to the firemen?

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At the start of the voyage the coal bunkers were full an the trimmers don't need to go far into the bunker and so to say could take them directly at the door. They of course had then to go into the bunker for the coal as Trimmer Cavell did when the collision took place.

The coal is stored in "bunkers." They are basically just a room and they do have doors on them. The trimmers take the coal from the bunkers, break it up, put it in a wheelbarrow, and cart it to the furnaces where the firemen work the fires. The trimmers also shift coal as necessary to keep the boat in "trim."

But why have the trimmers take the coal when the coal bunker is really close to the furnaces? Why can't the firemen stick their shovels through the door, shovel some out onto the ground, and keep shoveling.

But why have the trimmers take the coal when the coal bunker is really close to the furnaces? Why can't the firemen stick their shovels through the door, shovel some out onto the ground, and keep shoveling.

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They are not close to the furnaces. The coal were large lumps which had to be break into smaller pieces.

1: A coal bunker is basically a room full of coal.
2: Trimmers get some coal from the coal bunkers and put in a wheel barrow.
3: The coal is chopped up into manageable pieces.
4: The coal is carted over to the firemen.

But why have the trimmers take the coal when the coal bunker is really close to the furnaces? Why can't the firemen stick their shovels through the door, shovel some out onto the ground, and keep shoveling.

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I will take a stab at this question.
The answer is specialization. While the coal bunkers are close to the furnaces, the stokers still would have to move to get the coal. It would be inefficient for the stokers to repeatedly leave their positions in front of the furnace and walk up to or through the bunker door with their shovels and get one shovelful of coal and then come back to the furnace (or to put down the shovel, grab a wheel barrow, etc...). With the trimmers bringing a barrow full of coal every so often the stoker can stay more or less in one position and concentrate on shoveling coal into the furnace as needed. As the coal supply dwindles it probably takes more time to go into the bunker to get the coal.

By the way I suggest that you open up a separate browser window, put www.encyclopedia-titanica.org into the URL and click on the "DeckPlans" link near the top. Click on the "Tank top" among the various decks listed. You will see the boiler room layouts that show the coal bunkers. Except for Boiler Room 1 (just forward of the Reciprocating Engine room), all of the boiler rooms have double ended boilers (three furnaces on both ends) and the coal bunkers are up against the water tight bulkheads (indicated by W.T.B. on the plans) both forward and aft opposite each set of boilers. The plans do not appear to show the doors to the coal bunkers; I do not know if there was more than one door per port and starboard portion of each bunker (you can see the fireman's tunnel dividing the lower portion of each bunker on the plans). If someone knowledgable on the number and location of the bunker doors could provide that information it might clear things up further. If there is only one door per bunker, then a lot of moving around is necessary to get the coal to the stokers.

In case you are wondering how the coal gets into the bunkers in the first place, coal chutes accessible from hatches on each side of the hull lead into the bunkers from the top. If you click on "F Deck" plans and zoom in a little to either the port or starboard sides amidships, you will see little boxes labeled "CS" just inside the hull near each side of each W.T.B. Someone can correct me if I am wrong but those are presumably the coal chutes. One curious thing is that while these "CS"s correspond to all of the boiler rooms, there are also some leading to cargo hold number 3. Perhaps reserve coal could be stored under the Orlop deck in that hold. There are some pictures out there (google images?) of liners being refueled with coal from barges tied up on either side of the ship; this job could take a couple of days in some cases.

I hope that helps.

Edit: I see that several posts have been made while I was composing my long-winded reply!